Display appartus



Dec. 20, 1927.. Q r 1,653,394

" B. 5- DE VRIES DISPLAY APPARATUS Filed Octv. 1925 j 4 Sheets-Sheet 1gwuentoz Dec. 20, 1927'. A 1,653,394

Jwumtoc zezy'auulrv 6 a W s- B. 5. DE VRIES DISPLAY APPARATUS Filed 0011925 Dec. 20, 1927.

4 Sheets-Sheet 5 gwnto'a p Wiefi Dec. 20, 1927.

. B. s. DE VRIES DIPLAY APPARATUS Filed Oct. v. 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 4Jwoentoa .27am; fi Wies- I I25? I Cltkanmql Patented Dec. 20, 1927.

UNITED STA ES BENJAMIN S. DE VRIES, OF PORTLAND, OREGON.

DISPLAY APPARATUS.

Application filed October 7, 1926. Serial No. 140,147.

This invention relates to improvements in display apparatus and moreparticularly to an apparatus by the use of which articles of merchandisemay be successively displayed to view, the apparatus possessing theelement of mystification which is considered essential in advertisingdevices of this class.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which may beembodied in a cabinet structure or which may be in stalled in a displaywindowvon a large scale and which will embody a number of displaycompartments and curtains which, during the revolution of thecompartment unit, will be closed, but will be automatically opened atthe time each compartment is presented to View, so that, for example,furniture for the various rooms of a dwelling may be arranged within theseveral compartments and displayed at proper intervals in a highlyattractive manner.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the device that itwill be entirely automatic in its operation and will require noattention except for the turning of an ordinary electric switch, theconstruction being such that the compartment units will be rotated intimed relation to the opening and closing of the concealing curtains sothat the articles to be displayed will be presented to view to bestadvantage.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the apparatus embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof, the upper portion, of the housingstructure being shown in section so as to better illus-.

trate the construct-ion of the apparatus.

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view through the apparatus.

Figure 4 is a vertical transverse sectional view through the apparatus.

Figure 5 is a detail view of a portion of one of the curtains.

Where the invention is embodied in a cabinet structure such as isillustrated in the drawings, a suitable casing is'provided, indicated ingeneral by the numeral 1, and including a front 2, which may be of anyfanciful design and which is provided with a proscenium or displayopening 3, walls 4: extending rearwardly from the front wall 2 of thecabinet at the opposite sides of the said opening, as shown in Figure 2,and serving to define a stage-hire space opposite which the compartmentsof the compartment unit are to be successively brought to position. Thecompartment unit, which is indicated in general by the numeral 5,comprises a circular base 6, a central polygonal body structure 7, andwalls 8 which radiate from the body structure and diverge in thedirection of the periphery of the said base 6 so as to provide displaycompartments indicated by the numeral 9 and within which compartmentsand upon the base there may be arranged any desired articles ofmerchandise, such, for example, as articles of furniture, the walls ofthe body structure 7 and the radial walls 8 providing surfaces which maybe suitably finished or draped to afford an appropriate background forthe articles to be displayed. The base 6 of the compartment unit isfitted upon a shaft 10 and a hub 11 of a gear 12 is lined upon the saidshaft below the base, and arranged beside the periphery of the gear is aworm shaft 13 which is driven by a sprocket chain let from an electricmotor 15 arranged within the cabinet. The rotation of the gear 12 iscontinuous inasmuch as the hub 11 is fixed upon the shaft 10, whereasthe base 6 of the display unit is freely rotatable upon the said shaft,and a plurality of abutments 16 are arranged in an annular series uponthe under side of the said base 6 and are adapted to be engaged bydetent fingers 17 which project upwardly through the body of the gear 12and are provided with angularly formed abutment shoulders 18 adapted toride, at intervals in the rotation of the gear, over an upright arcuatecam track 19 which is arranged below the gear and upon the 7 base of thecasing. At this point it will be evident that, when the shoulder portion18 of either finger 17 rides upon the elevated portion of the cam 19,the upper end of the detent finger 17 will engage one of the abutments16 and the compartment unit- 5 will be rotated until such time as theshoulder portion 18 of the detent 17 leaves the surface of the cam.whereupon the said compartment unit will remain stationary while thegear 12 will continue to rotate. The gearing is so constructed andproportioned that while the gear 12 rotates continuously,

the successive compartments of the compart articles of merchandisearranged withinthe several compartments will be displayed to newsuccessively and for period time corresponding to the interval betweenthe escape of one detent from the cam track and the engagement of theother detent with the cam, the angular length of the cam being equalsubstantially to the breadth dimension of the compartments, so that eachcompartment will be brought into exact registration with the displayopening.

In order that the display opening 3 may be closed while the compartmentunit 5 is being rotatably adjusted, and then uncovered so as to disclosethe display, curta ns. 2 0 are'draped at the upper side of the opening 3andprovided upon their rear sides each with a series of eyeletsindicated by the numeral 21. Cords or cables 22 are strung through theeyelets and attached at their ends, as. at 23, to the curtains near therelatively adjacent margins thereof. These cables are led about pulleys24 arrangedat the "upper corners of the opening 3 and at their other.ends are connected to a lever which is indicated by the numeral 25 andwhich is fixed to the upper end of a shaft 26 rotatably mounted at oneside of the compartment or display unit 5. An arm 27 is lined upon theshaft 26 and a roller v28 is mounted at the outer end of the said armand is held by a spring 29, which'coacts with i the arm, in engagementwith the. periphery of a cam 30 which is mounted beneath the gear. 12.The arrangement is such that, in the rotation of the shaft 13, thedetents 17 will be successively brought into engagement with the camsurface of the camv track 19 so as torotate the display unit 5 adistance such as to move one compartment away from the display openingand to bring the next adjacent compartment into perfect registrationwith the opening. During this movement of thedisplay unit, the roller 28upon the arm 27 will be in contact with the low portion 31 of theca n 30and the cables 22 will be slackened so that the curtains 20 will beclosed or fully suspended and will conceal the unit 5 in its rotativemovement. At the moment the detent 17 leavesthe cam 19, the roller 28will ridevonto the high point of the cam 30 with the result that a pullwill be exerted upon the cables 22, thus spreading the, cur-' tainsapart, and, at the sametime, the rotative movement of-the unit 5 willbearrested bya brake spring 32 which is fixed upon the rear wall of thecompartment 1- and which bears against the periphery'of the base 6,

as clearly shown in Figure 2 of the drawings. The unit 5 will thenremain stationary until the vgear 12 hasbeen rotated toa point where a'detent 17 will ride upon the high surface of the cam track1-9,andsimultaneously the shaft 26 will be rocked to close the curtains,the curtains remaining closedwhile the compartment unit rotates. Y

In order that the curtains 20 may be caused to assume a lowered positioncomformed in the lower margins of the curtains.

. laving thus described the invention, what- I claim is: i 1. In displayapparatus, a rotary display unit having vdisplay compartments, 'meansfor imparting intermittent rotary motion to the said unit, and obscuringmeans comprising a pair of curtains fixed at theirupper ends and in rearof which the compartments are'to be successively brought to stationaryposition, cables connected to the curtains ad jacent the confrontingedges thereof at points belowlthe, upper ends of the same, an arm towhich the'cables are connected,-and means for swinging the arm inconsonance with the rotary motion. of the displayun tofdraw aside/the.lower. portions of the curtains while the display unit is inactive.

2; In display apparatus, a rotary display unit having displaycompartments, means for imparting intermittent rotary motion to the saidunit, and obscuring meansactuated automatically in consonance with the.movement of the display unit to obscure eachsuccessive compartment ofthe, unit during the period of movement thereof into,v display positionand to render therobscuring means inactive during the period ofnon-movement of the display unit, the said obscuring means comprising apair of curtains fixed attheir upper ends and having actuatingcordssoperatively connected; thereto adjacent their confronting edges atpoints below their upper ends, and weights at the lower margins of thecurtains.

3. In display apparatus, a rotary display unit having displaycompartments, means for imparting intermittent rotary motion to the.said unit, and obscuring means comprising a pair of curtains fixed attheir upper ends and in rear of which thevcompartments of a rotarydisplay unit, a 'continuouslyrotating gear below the display unit,detents carried by said gear,,elements on the bottom of the vdisplayunit to be engaged by the detents, a cam track fixed in the path of thedetents, whereby to cause the detents to engage the elements on thedisplay unit and intermittently impart rotary movement to the unit, apair of curtains at the front of the play unit to impart rotativemovement to the 10 unit, a cam fixed to the gear, a pair of curtains atthe front of the display unit, and means actuated by said cam wherebythe curtains will be opened when the display unit is at rest and closedwhen the display unit 15 is in motion.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature. BENJAMIN S. DE VRIES. [L.S.]

